Nevermore: The Madness of Poe
Nevermore: The Madness of Poe was one of the eight haunted houses that was featured during Halloween Horror Nights 21. It was based off of Edgar Allan Poe's greatest works. It was located in Sprung Tent 2. History and Location In 2011, Universal decided to build a haunted house based on the various works of Edgar Allan Poe. The house would feature both some of his actual life, and some of his most famous poems. In 2011, every house tied into a story relating to a choice a character had to make (influenced by Lady Luck). This house's story was focused on Poe himself, who had the choice to move to Baltimore or Boston. He chose Baltimore and was escorted to the ship by the ticket taker (Lady Luck in disguise). In Baltimore, he met Virginia Clemm, who he would marry. She would soon die and leave him in a state of depression and insanity, In 2006, Universal built two hurricane-proof tents behind the World Expo area of the park specifically for holding Halloween Horror Nights haunted houses. This house would be located in the northernmost one (called Sprung Tent 2). Description The madness of Edgar Allen Poe’s greatest works has come to life. Step into the mind of the iconic writer, where every turn of the page takes you closer to the brink of insanity. Experience Queue As guests reached the end of the queue area, they entered the house underneath a facade showing multiple pages of Edgar Allan Poe's writings coming together to form the image of his face. Writings from Poe's works were projected onto the side of Sprung Tent 2's exterior. House As guests entered the haunted house, they passed down a hallway and into Edgar Allan Poe's writing studio, where many of his famous stories were written, while Poe wanders around murmuring the dark themes that are present in his stories with a wine bottle in his hand. Guests then move down another hallway, pushing past giant pages of Poe's works, and are attacked by Lenore, from Poe's story "Lenore". From there, guests entered a scene from "The Tell Tale Heart", where the narrator from the poem is seen going mad burying the Vulture Eyed Man's body parts while hanging from the ceiling and walls in multiple places as the Vulture Eyed Man attacks from different areas throughout the room. Guests then enter a scene from "The Raven", where giant ravens attack from multiple places in the room, and a large window showing a view of ravens sitting on a tree shatters, showering guests in glass (actually cold water). Following is a scene from "The Pit and the Pendulum", where the main character is seen on a table getting sliced in half by the pendulum as the Spanish Inquisitors attack guests, holding severed body parts from victims. The next scene is taken from Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death", as guests enter the masked ball from the story, where the human form of the Red Plague preys on guests from a balcony in the center of the room, as masked victims of the Red Death attack from areas among a mirror maze on the sides of the room. In the next scene, guests enter into Poe's portrait gallery, and see Poe calling out to his late wife and cousin Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe, as she and multiple other women from Poe's life attack guests throughout the room. The following scene is taken from "The Black Cat", as the main character's wife and the black cat pop out and attack guests from throughout the room. In the finale scene, Poe is shown in his final days going extremely mad, and various books of his writings are seen stacked up all over the room. Here, guests are attacked one final time by Poe, Virginia and an assortment of characters from his works including the Vulture Eyed Man, The Raven, a Spanish Inquisitor, the Red Death, and the Black Cat. Guests then exit the house. Scareactors *Edgar Allan Poe (x5) *Lenore *Vulture Eyed Man (x2) *Raven (x4) *Spanish Inquistor *Prisoner (x2) *The Red Death (x2) *Masked Ball Victim (x2) *Virginia (x5) *Bernice Trivia *Edgar Allan Poe appeared a total of five times in the house, three times in his own scenes (his study, portrait gallery and finale scene) and in a cameo appearance in two of his stories; He could be seen bricking himself in "The Black Cat" scene, and a Spanish Inquisitor was seen holding his severed head in "The Pit and the Pendulum" scene. *The shattering glass effect from "The Raven" scene is also used by Universal Studios in the Twister...Ride it Out attraction. *'Nevermore' is one of the first haunted houses in Halloween Horror Nights history in which Universal built an actual ceiling for the house (in "The Tell Tale Heart" scene). *It was also reported to be the largest Sprung Tent house at the time. *In "The Pit and the Pendulum" scene, the main character from the story was seen getting sliced in half by the pendulum. However, in the actual story, the man escaped the pendulum by placing food on his ropes, allowing rats to eat through them, freeing him. *The scenes in the house were shown in the order in which Poe's stories were released. *The finale scene used an effect in which various symbols from Poe's stories (such as Ravens) were seen painted onto the walls. This effect was previously used in Frankenstein: Creation of the Damned. Links *Behind the Scenes Walkthrough *Video from Universal previewing the maze Category:Halloween Horror Nights Orlando Haunted Houses Category:Sprung Tent 2 Category:Original Houses Category:Halloween Horror Nights 21 Category:Halloween Horror Nights Orlando